ExitTrauma
New member
Hello community, this is going to be a rather long post. I’m looking for advice on what to do.
I have been in this hobby off and on for many decades. I am 45 years old and I’m wanting to start another build, however I don’t want the level of commitment I have had in the past. My last two complicated builds ended in total catastrophe with both tanks springing leaks in the bottom resulting in significant repairs and damage both times. My wife has been giving me the bombastic side eye for the past couple weeks as she has seen me getting my old equipment out of storage and cleaning it all up. For the sake of our marriage and my own sanity, I’m looking for something smaller, and simpler. This means no SPS, no insane automation, no huge tank either. The problem is that most of my gear is grossly oversized for a small build. So I’m kinda looking for advice here on what to do.
I got a 20 gallon long on sale with the thought of either I could use that as a small display, or if I want to go bigger I could use it as a sump. For now, I would like to use it as a display. The question here is, should I drill this thing and run a sump? Or try to do this sumpless? If I run a sump with it, I can use most of my other equipment, but if I do it sumpless I’ll have to also be skimmer less since the only skimmer I have is a bubble magus curve 9.
The main reason I want a smaller tank is I don’t want to deal with a RO/DI. I had a huge automated RO/DI setup that I have since taken down, and I don’t want to go down that road again. I was hoping to just handle the water changes buying RO water from the store.
Livestock wise, in regard to corals, I’m thinking just some softies and some easy LPS. I’m not sure about fish, I’m either going to get one predator like a small angler or smaller community fish. Nothing wild.
So, opinions on what I should do? How should I go about this new build?
Thanks for reading.
I have been in this hobby off and on for many decades. I am 45 years old and I’m wanting to start another build, however I don’t want the level of commitment I have had in the past. My last two complicated builds ended in total catastrophe with both tanks springing leaks in the bottom resulting in significant repairs and damage both times. My wife has been giving me the bombastic side eye for the past couple weeks as she has seen me getting my old equipment out of storage and cleaning it all up. For the sake of our marriage and my own sanity, I’m looking for something smaller, and simpler. This means no SPS, no insane automation, no huge tank either. The problem is that most of my gear is grossly oversized for a small build. So I’m kinda looking for advice here on what to do.
I got a 20 gallon long on sale with the thought of either I could use that as a small display, or if I want to go bigger I could use it as a sump. For now, I would like to use it as a display. The question here is, should I drill this thing and run a sump? Or try to do this sumpless? If I run a sump with it, I can use most of my other equipment, but if I do it sumpless I’ll have to also be skimmer less since the only skimmer I have is a bubble magus curve 9.
The main reason I want a smaller tank is I don’t want to deal with a RO/DI. I had a huge automated RO/DI setup that I have since taken down, and I don’t want to go down that road again. I was hoping to just handle the water changes buying RO water from the store.
Livestock wise, in regard to corals, I’m thinking just some softies and some easy LPS. I’m not sure about fish, I’m either going to get one predator like a small angler or smaller community fish. Nothing wild.
So, opinions on what I should do? How should I go about this new build?
Thanks for reading.
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